Gary Lineker joins calls for wealth tax - The Latest
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is The Guardian.
Something called a wealth tax does capture the imagination and it does speak to a frustration that lots of people have. Why is it me that's always getting taxed?
Why isn't it other people? Economically, what can you do differently? A wealth tax possibly of the super rich? I'm not going to rule things out right now. I do believe we need a greater sense of fairness.
Why are millionaires like Gary Lineker calling for a wealth tax now?
It's really interesting to see Andy Burnham's stance on this because they do need to raise more money.
The idea of something that is wrapped up in fancy wrapping and is called a wealth tax, I think that's for the birds.
From The Guardian's Today In Focus, this is The Latest with me, Nosheen Iqbal. Gary Lineker has put his name to a letter calling for millionaires like himself to be taxed. More, I should say. Aditya Chakravorty, you're the Guardian columnist, senior economics commentator, and recently rewarded an MBE for public service for your public understanding of economics. No, it's an honour, literally. So who better... to explain to us the concept of a wealth tax. Namely, let's start with why has the idea of it become so popular again?
What economic frustrations and inequality trends are driving interest in a wealth tax?
It speaks to a huge frustration that I think is felt not just in this country, but across rich countries. In Britain, we haven't had much in a way of growth in our wages for nearly 20 years since the banking crash. It's a very high, highly unequal economy. We see In the news, and in fact, our news is increasingly controlled by billionaires. We're going to go on a platform which is owned by billionaires, right? And the wealth tax speaks to that great frustration. Like, why do these people get to run our world? How do we get to have more of a degree of power back in And how do we get some more money back? Why am I being taxed all the time for all these things? And it feels like my life is very hard. And I can see these people at the top and their life's not hard.
And not only is their life not hard, they're taking more and more stuff. And the wealth tax speaks to all of that.
And so before we get to the mechanics of how it works, there's this idea that it would raise about £15 billion for the Treasury, something that Zach Polanski, leader of the Green Party, has also put forward as something that he would absolutely back. Does that sound about right?
So just to be really clear, what Zach Plansky is proposing is an annual tax on people's wealth. And he's saying that would raise about 15 billion pounds. Estimates really vary. They're all over the shop on this stuff machine. We haven't had a wealth tax in this country for so long that I wouldn't take any of the figures too seriously. So, yes, it could be 15 billion. It could be 10 billion. It could be it could be more or less. I've seen independent experts come out with a figure which is closer to 10 billion. But there's no reason to believe that Zaplansky's wrong.
OK, so to the question of how, what exactly would be taxed? How much? How will it work? What is Gary Lineker saying? Take more of. And how would the government do it?
So the wealth tax that's been proposed by the likes of Zaplansky and Gary Lineker and the economist Gary Stevenson is basically that someone comes around with a form once a year and they say, so how much have you got in assets? Which means everything from your house to your fine art, your stock portfolios, maybe a collection of wines. I don't know, Nishin.
Sounds very much like me, of course. Yeah. All of these things.
Collection of bikes. Who knows? But the point is they say, OK. over a certain threshold, let's say 10 million pounds, you'll pay 2%. of a levy on that. Now, what I should say is that the best and most comprehensive study of wealth taxes in this country, which was done during the COVID pandemic by a group called the Wealth Tax Commission, said that is not the way to go. Right. That will raise you some money. About £10 billion was their estimate. But if you really wanted a wealth tax and you really wanted to raise cash, you go hard and you do a one-time raid. So tax man all of a sudden at the stroke of midnight tonight says, OK, everyone who's got assets over a certain threshold, actually their threshold is a lot lower.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:30
2
Why are millionaires like Gary Lineker calling for a wealth tax now?
0:30–1:23
3
What economic frustrations and inequality trends are driving interest in a wealth tax?
1:23–9:59
4
How much revenue could a recurring annual wealth tax realistically raise?
9:59–11:35